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How the Grinch Stole the Holiday Showcase/Presentations/Pyro Enterprises
How The Grinch Stole The Holiday Showcase Welcome one and all to another Pyro Enterprises showcase! We've got plenty to show, so let's get right into the action! Day 1 The trailer begins with a black screen and an ominous buildup, which ends as soon as a small die is rolled onto the screen. It lands on a side with a strange four-pointed star symbol, and the die bursts into light as the scene transitions to a forest, with a young man with orange spiked hair and a sword battling against an older man with mage robes. The two roll dice at each other and rush towards each other with their weapons drawn. The two collide and the logo of the game reveals itself: ---- A revamp of a much older project of mine, Lucky Break is a Mario Party-inspired project based on aspects of all the games in the series (even the less liked entries) and aims to rebalance them and build them into something new and creative. The general concept of the game remains the same as the earlier entries: roll the dice, travel around the board, play minigames to win Gold, and buy Crystals to put yourself ahead of the game. In Lucky Break, however, an additional resource has been added in the form of Health. While the winner of a minigame gains some Gold, the last-place player will typically lose 1 Health, and an entire category of minigames called Arena Minigames are entirely dedicated to trying to take out rival Health. If you lose all your health, you're rendered unconcious for a turn, and some of your coins are taken into the Reaper's Cache, lost forever... unless someone manages to land on the space where it's contained. Health can, of course, be restored by either Pink Spaces or via the use of Cards, which are the game's equivalent of Orbs and can be used for various purposes. The minigame selection is based on both classic Mario Party hits and all-new styles of minigame, which are now separated into dedicated categories, making it easier to reduce, increase, or negate the likelihood of a type of minigame nobody likes before the game starts. There's also a wide variety of modes available aside from the classic Mario Party formula, with multiple maps sharing a core gameplay gimmick to make things more organized. Some maps may force players to race each other to a Crystal, others may be oriented around stealing Crystals rather than buying them, and others are more combat-focused, awarding Crystals to players who successfully manage to drain competitors of their Health. There's content here for everyone to enjoy! We hope you're excited for Lucky Break! ---- A somber piano piece plays as a young woman with a sword on her back and a mysterious man with strange clothing look off of a cliff, staring out at a distant sunset. Woman: You know I'm ready to do anything I can to stop this plague. If we have hope, we can do anything. The man flickers, similar to that of a hologram. Man: Hope is an illusion. You of all people should understand that. Hope is what people make up when they can't hold on to any chance of true victory any longer. It's a crutch, a glimmer of light that just might be in reach. Hope doesn't exist... but it's something that's motivated your kind for millennia. Quite the paradox, really. The woman clutched her arm, surrounded by a strange gauntlet that resembled the man's almost-ethereal clothing. Woman: Orpheus, you know what I mean. We need something to keep us going. Crops are dying, people are suffering, and the world needs something to turn to. Even if hope is just some fantasy we as a species cooked up, it's gotten us this far. You rescued me from that crevasse, repaired the arm I had lost, because you said I had a purpose. You became my partner so I could help fix the world. Orpheus: Hmph. Very true... after all, just because hope is an illusion doesn't mean we're doomed to hopelessness. If someone believes in something, that makes it just the tiniest bit more real. And you believe harder than any other Driver I've seen. The pair was interrupted by a pair of individuals walking towards them, one being a muscular man in red clothing and the other a strange floating wisp-like woman, generating sparkling ice crystals in the air around her. Man: Oy, Teya! We've gotta set up the caravan! Quit talkin' with your new boyfriend and help us get things unloaded! Teya: He's not my... Alright. C'mon, Orpheus, let's go help the gang out. The four walked off as the camera zoomed off of the cliff, revealing a sea of lava below the cliffside. The screen turns black as a logo appears. Day 2 Now to formally address the surprise announcement from last night: Xenoblade Chronicles Afterimage. Developed by Pyro Enterprises and Monolith Soft, this is yet another title in the critically acclaimed Xenoblade series, launching on the Pyrohedron and Nintendo Switch. The game's framework is most closely based on the most recent title, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and aims to improve on both its faults and its high marks while retooling aspects such as combat and the Blade system. Afterimage follows Teya, a repairwoman living in a travelling caravan. This group makes its way all across the land of Keola, an island chain borne on the corpse of a long-dead titan from a bygone age, surrounded in shimmering lava. Despite the danger inherent in this land, those who live on the corpse thrive thanks to hard work, dedication, and the efforts to mine the precious water and ether that once acted as the titan's lifeblood. The peace is now disrupted as a strange plague scatters across Keola, killing crops, agitating the wildlife, and causing people to fall ill with a disease that seems to have no cure. Teya's caravan is sent by the people of Umauma to travel in search of medicine, but they are attacked along the way by a mysterious group, and she is left to die in a crevasse, her arm trapped inside rocks and unable to be pried free. She is only able to escape after finding a strange organic growth buried in the rock underneath her, centered around a glowing crystal. Barely managing to pick it up, she holds the crystal in her free hand and it flashes in a burst of light, releasing a man in strange clothes who calls himself Orpheus. Referring to Teya as his Driver, he vows to assist her in escape... slicing her arm off and extracting some of the organic growth to assist her in creating a replacement arm. Teya escapes the crevasse with the help of Orpheus. She explains to him her goal of finding a cure for the plague ravaging the world, and he explains his own dilemma; as a Blade, he has no memory of his past, but something in the back of his mind is urging him towards an end goal- the search for his previous Driver. The two make an allegiance, and they set off to save Keola from the plague in whatever way they can. ---- As you may be able to tell, Afterimage relies on the same Blade mechanic that was utilized in the previous entry in the series, in which the main party members or Drivers rely on the magical synthetic beings known as Blades to perform attacks and use abilities. In Afterimage, the combat is retooled to be less passive than in previous series entries. Drivers no longer auto-attack, and instead perform attacks utilizing the Y and X buttons (Delta and Omega buttons on Pyrohedron) to create various combos that are dependent on the user's equipped weapon/Blade. Each Blade has four unique Arts that can be activated when charged by normal attacks; these are triggered by use of the shoulder and trigger buttons. Pressing both triggers activates a Blade's Special attack, which acts just as it did in XC2 and enables the use of Blade Combos, and the A or Alpha button allows for a dedicated dodge roll. As you can see, the combat system has been retooled to act more engaging than the largely position-based battle system of the past three entries, but we hope the end result remains just as fun and strategic! The Core Crystals that the Blade mechanic is built around has also been modified to increase the chances of obtaining a Rare Blade... Just as well, because there is a far greater amount of them in this game as compared to XC2. Every time a Core Crystal is spent and a Common Blade is obtained, the player gains BP, or Blade Points. These can be spent at any time when using a Core Crystal to increase the likelihood of a Rare Blade, though it's not guaranteed unless you spend the maximum possible amount of BP on a single crystal. This adds a sort of betting aspect to the system; do you use up tons of Core Crystals to fill up your BP, potentially wasting them all, or bet all your BP on a Crystal for the chance to win a new ally? It's all up to you! We hope you are excited for Xenoblade Chronicles Afterimage. ---- My name is Virgo Geneva. I'm spending the summer at this little private school as a librarian's assistant, a place called Kuyabusa's School for Exceptional Students. I thought it was just a fancy name to attract rich kids and make money, but nope! Turns out the people who attend here have powers and stuff! I can't exactly explain it, but every student here attends in order to develop and control their powers, and they asked for some extra staff- that's where I come in- to let the normal staff rest over the summer. Everyone here is so interesting... I hope I can get to know them better! ---- That's right! Pyro Enterprises is entering the visual novel scene! The player takes on the role of young Virgo Geneva (design by ), who is residing at the titular academy for the summer while she acts as a librarian's assistant. Much to her surprise, the majority of the student body seems to have superpowers, cause unknown to both them and her. She makes it her goal to learn about the other students and track down where the source of their powers may lie... Could romance blossom along the way? Of course, at its core, KSES is not actually a full dating simulator game, and aims to break the visual novel genre out of that specific niche. The main bulk of the game is centered around exploring the school and attempting to upgrade various personality traits, or Virtues, of Virgo; reading books increases her Cleverness, for example, while doing athletic activities increases her Toughness. Depending on how high (or low) these Virtues are, Virgo can perform different tasks, gain the ability to do certain things or go to certain parts of the school, or connect with other students in a way that may possibly lead to a romantic encounter. In essence, what you do determines what path the story takes, even if it heads in unexpected places. But hey, unexpected is what you get at Kuyabusa's School for Exceptional Students! We hope you're excited for this story to unfold! Day 3 The trailer for the next project begins, taking place inside a brightly-lit stadium in some unknown location, a large platform protruding from the center of it. An announcer speaks to the roaring crowd of people over a loud microphone. Announcer: HELLO, my beautiful people! Welcome back to another exciting annual bout in the BOUNDLESS PANKRATION TOURNAMENT 18! The crowd cheers as the announcer chuckles to himself. Announcer: That's right, we've been holding this event for 18 years now, collecting money to provide for charity organizations across the world and training the next generation of warriors and saviors. Of course, to the average viewer, all that matters is gonna be the personalities on display fighting for glory and honor. So, who wants the matches to begin?! The crowd cheers even louder. The announcer pulls out a small red gun and fires it directly into the air, creating a beautiful red firework explosion. Announcer: Then let the battles commence! The trailer shifts to an underground locker room, with a woman seeming visibly concerned and scared. The camera pans downward, revealing her to have bulky, mismatched robotic arms. She gulps nervously as the announcer walks behind her. Announcer: 3Dee, is everything okay? You aren't chickening out on me, now, are you? 3Dee: N-No, I'm just... Announcer: This is for a good cause. Nobody's gonna get... Okay, well, nobody's going to die out here. Everyone will be fine. 3Dee: I'm just worried... That all my training's going to amount to nothing. I can't afford to lose this... Announcer: Dee, everything will be okay. I believe in you. The crowd's ready to see you in action for the first time. They want to see you do what I know you can do. Now, put on your eyewear and make me proud. Dee gulps again as she pulls out a pair of technologically advanced goggles, sliding them over her face for protection. She nervously laughs as she steps onto a nearby platform, elevating her up into the platform in the center of the arena. A man in strange, almost alien-looking clothing stands to face her, a glowing arm outstretched as if to challenge her. Dee simply laughs happily, seemingly putting on a stage persona to excite the wild crowd. Everyone cheers as the two rush towards each other, a game logo appearing in a flash of light. ---- Boundless is yet another attempt at a Pyro Enterprises-original fighting game series, this time relying on a mix of mechanics from several series to create a truly original piece. Unlike most fighting games, the game plays entirely in 3D, working from an isometric perspective similar to the games in the Custom Robo series. Players platform around 3D arenas, automatically locking onto enemy targets to allow the player to strafe around them using dashes, expert platforming, and character-specific abilities. Matches in this game can get extremely hectic extremely fast. Much like Super Smash Bros., players do not have health bars so much as Health Fractions, which begin at 0/1 and proceed to increase as they are hit with attacks. Every attack increases the lower half of the Fraction, and every time it reaches 100, the number loops around back to zero and the top half increases by 1. The top half of the Fraction is a multiplier on the knockback the player takes; much like Smash, the ultimate goal is to ring-out the opponent. However, knockback can also be weaponized in Boundless, as a sufficiently fast-moving target acts as a strong projectile that can damage other players on contact. Every character has access to many of the same abilities. They can perform a Dash in any direction by moving in that direction and pressing the left bumper, a technique that even works in air and not only grants a small timeframe of immunity, but can also be used to knock down opponents if timed right. Normal attacks can be performed with a press of the Delta button, while Ranged attacks can be performed with the Omega button. Special character-specific abilities can all be activated with the Beta button, and all three possess multiple variants depending on whether or not the player is moving forward, to the side, backwards, or neutral. Alpha is used to swap targets, while the right bumper is used to jump. Every character is designed to fill a unique niche in terms of gameplay. 3Dee, the heroine showcased in our trailer, relies on explosive weaponry and her energy blade to deal heavy damage to opponents, while Zpyrus, her opponent, uses strange arcane abilities to zone and trap his foes, sealing off parts of the stage. The vampiric Atashi relies on speed and poisonous attacks, dealing constant damage over time and jumping around the stage, R0 combines both heavy, powerful attacks and the unique ability to hover in place to create a unique reaction-based style of aerial fighting, and Jade Beetle uses her heroic might and enhanced dash attacks to rush down the opponent and corner them. We hope you are excited for Boundless! Day 4 ♪♪♪! ♡ COMING TOMORROW Day 5 Sorry bout the lack of content yesterday, was feeling under the weather and wanted to take a bit of a rest. That out of the way, though, let's talk Siren's Sonata! Siren's Sonata is a drastic retooling of another game I once worked on known as Siren's Call. That game was a 3D collectathon inspired by the likes of Banjo-Kazooie; the issue on that front is that I had never actually played the game and as such felt very little emotional connection to the product as a whole. After playing Super Mario Odyssey, I feel I now have the capacity to once again create an interesting take on this beloved genre. The game is set in a world once dominated by humankind, now flooded and drastically changed over time. A civilization of mermaid-like creatures who refer to themselves as Nadir now preside over the aquatic planet, living somewhat normal lives and more or less relaxing in this near-utopia. The Nadir are thrown into chaos, however, when a young mermaid named Dew discovers and performs a song written on a wall in some undersea ruins. This song, the Siren's Sonata, causes earthquakes to begin ravaging the planet and unleashing strange monsters from the depths of the earth, risking a repeat of the apocalypse that happened years ago. Dew, under guidance from King Levisan, sets off to do whatever she can to repair the damage- which, naturally, leads to her collecting as much stuff as possible. The core of every good 3D platformer needs to be movement that feels fun to play, and that mantra is something that Siren's Sonata aims to twist for its own gain. Every level is technically a water level, some more than others, and due to that, we have aimed to make Dew a highly agile and flowy character in the water. She is an aquatic creature, after all, and as such we've taken inspiration from games such as Abzu and Majora's Mask's Zora Link to create the best swimming controls we can, while also providing a similarly smooth and agile gameplay experience on land. Dew's core abilities consist of Dive and Sing, the former being a simple lunge that acts as her main attack and the latter being an AoE ability that causes her to hover in the air for a second while interacting with specific objects, maintaining momentum if she has any. When combined with various environmental objects and in different combinations, these two moves provide a lot of potential for movement and unique platforming. We hope you are excited for Siren's Sonata! And on that note, we would like to draw this showcase to a close... Thank you for your time, and we hope you enjoyed our work! Stay tuned for Ghostrealm Studios's showcase for another surprise! 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